The Foot Situation

So things have been a little rough over here lately.

Running has always been a release for me - its what has kept me sane over some difficult months. And a foot fracture immediately after an accomplishment like a half marathon, plus some recent things that have been a little difficult to deal with has left me feeling a little helpless.

I went to the orthopedic doctor last week on Wednesday (first appointment of the morning, 7AM. super fun). Things were initially looking pretty bad. Right before my doctor left the room to allow me to go get new x-rays, he mentioned "and maybe marathons are just not for you," and I swear my heart broke in half.

X-rays #2 were taken (after assurance that I was indeed not pregnant), and then I came back to the exam room and talked to the doctor further.

This is my X-ray:

very broken foot.

Lovely right? Not even a stress fracture.
It probably began as a stress fracture, but then I ran 13.1 miles and broke broke broke it. COOL.

Doctor man and I talked a little more - he asked how invested I was in running, and I pretty much said that I feel in love with it, and he reevaluated my situation. He assured me it was not likely my shoes - he had read Born to Run and was aware of all the shoe-hype, which was nice to hear. and I think it's pretty badass that he had read Born to Run.

So luckily, they don't cast or put you on crutches for fractures like this, and only recommend using hard soled shoes that don't bend. Which are suprisingly toms?

He told me that I could swim or bike - probably not elliptical because you push off with your forefoot. Unfortunately, at this point I can't really do yoga either. Just downward dog hurts my foot.

I go back for another x-ray in a month and we'll see how its healing and how I can proceed back into running.

It sucks. A LOT. I see all these runners, get my runner's world emails and magazines, read all your lovely blogs, and I am so jealous.

But I'm trying to keep my head up.

I'll keep you all updated about how it goes.

Back to the Food

So since I won't be running any time soon, I've been thinking about what this blog will focus on. The past few months have been HALF HALF HALF obsessed, and now that I'm not training, or even running, I'm kind of back to square one with "what will my blog focus on?"

Well luckily, I've had plenty of time lately to make delicious eats.

Yesterday was particularly good.

I started out the day with a trip to whole foods for raspberries so I could make babycakes raspberry scones. Despite intending to only buy raspberries and coconut oil, I instead walked out spending $55. WHOOPS. In my defense, I did buy natural sunscreen because it was on sale and that is an expensive item.  And kombucha was on sale, so I had to stock up (may be going back again later this week for more, haha. obsession).

The raspberry scone recipe was so simple and easy. Just a few basic ingredients, baked for 14 minutes and tada deliciousness.

ingredients! so few! i love it!

batter

ready to bake

YUM!

These were more muffin-like than scone-like, but I still loved them.

Lucky for you all, the recipe is online here.

My day of delicious food further continued with this lunch:

This was a grilled cheese, made with WF australian cheddar (so good!), fuji apple, and tj's honey apple butter.

Step by step now:

one

two

three

and grill on the g. foreman. and tada! 

could not be more delicious

Stress Fracture x2

Good Morning Bloggies.

So after a whole afternoon spent at the doctors and imaging center, we have a diagnosis on my foot.

Stres fracture x2.

I haven't seen the x-rays yet, and I haven't really talked to my doctor about it (thanks to a really stupid situation with the imaging center- while I was still at the imaging center waiting on results, my doctor called my house and told my mom the results), but I'm heading to a specialist sometime next week.

Updates will come when I know more.

To put it lightly, I'm pretty devastated. I thought I was smart about training. I worked up gradually, I hit my long runs, scaled back on distance certain weeks. I eat well, my blood results from last week came back with perfectly in range calcium levels (although I need to chat with ms. nutrition bff about the significance of blood calcium levels), I'm definitely not starving myself, or eating super unhealthy.

It makes me doubt my love for my fivefingers so much as well, which is equally devastating.

At the same time, I know I didn't follow the training plan as closely as I should have. I didnt get in as many 5 milers as I was supposed to, I slacked on cross-training, and strength training was sporadic at best. If I was going to doing physical activity, I just wanted to run. Clearly that doesn't work out so well.

I'm not sure whether the half caused, contributed, or exasperated the stress fracture, but I guess I could just go with I ran 13.1 miles on a broken foot? Although that kind of makes me look like an idiot. I could tell the x-ray tech thought I was an idiot when I explained that I had some pain before the half, and that I ran it anyway.

ALSO, what is it about health care people thinking a marathon and half-marathon are the same thing? I've had to correct people tons of time. I guess it probably means little to them, but there is a HUGE difference. All my medical records I'm sure say 'after marathon.' Nope, haven't done one of those.

So I don't know how long this puts me out for. I guess we'll see on Monday.
Monday I should also get back my x-rays, which I of course will share with you all, because thats the beauty of the blogging community.

I just want to run so badly though. I see all these people running in this gorgeous weather, and I hear about great runs, and I am just so envious. One of my first questions for the specialist next week will be what can I do while I'm not running?

I have found one silver lining:

Pre-race I got to carb load, in the form of breads, pastas, and pizza.
Post-stress fracture I get to calcium load, in the form of ice cream, chocolate milk, cheese, and pizza.

FIRST HALF - DEXTER-ANN ARBOR RUN

So I did it!

I ran 13.1 miles, and completed my very first half marathon.

Of course it was not without its struggles, but I'll definitely be doing another one.

Okay, from the beginning.

Yesterday at packet pick up I was so happy with my number! My favorite numbers are 11 and 22, so 122 was the PERFECT bib number. I was feeling optimistic about the run if only for this reason.

This morning I woke up around 7 to be ready to leave the house by 7:45. I made myself a banana, pb english muffin for pre-run fuel and then gathered my things and headed off.

I barely made it to the start on time. Traffic was a little crazy getting to the start, but I did make it with a little bit of time to spare, and the race began.

I started out too fast, big surprise. It just felt good, and I was hanging with all the super fast people and I was like oh yeah, I can do this. Mile one was super speedy: 8:13.

Mile 2 was a little more reasonable: 8:46.

I took gatorade at mile 2, and that was probably a poor choice. too much sugar for me on a run (says the girl obsessed with shot bloks)

It was probably cool enough for the first few miles, but there were big stretches where we were in the sun that I hated.

Oh and the biggest thing of all? My foot hurt the entire time. I could feel that I was running on it weird, but I wasn't going to stop. I was going to get through it.

Mile 3: 8:56
Mile 4: 8:54
Mile 5: 9:04
Mile 6: 8:51

Around mile 6 I somehow completely effed up my garmin. I turned it off for a few stretches, because I'm used to turning it off when I walk, and then somehow forgot to turn it back on. Idk what happened, but there's a stretch of .68 miles completely missing from my garmin stats. Whoops.

It was still useful to have for pacing purposes, but that was about it.

I walked a lot more than I would have liked, but the whole foot situation was kind of a game changer. So I walked at miles 6, 9 and 11, and then kind of sucked it up for the rest of the run.

Those balloons were the most misleading things ever. you'd think that was the end right? ABSOLUTELY NOT. just keep running!

Final time? 2:03.17

Did it beat my under 2 goal? No, it didn't. Did I run on a completely damaged foot? Yes I did. So I'm okay with it. I already have a list of things I will do differently for half marathon #2.

I was one lucky lady to have a bunch of family + the bff there for the race festivities.

chugging water

me & mom!

putting the shoe back on the super injured foot

cancer kickers shirt! way better than the actual race tee's

Now I am attempting to cure this foot. I'm not feeling very optimistic, but I'm icing and elevating like a champ. i have my bag of ice, and my mountain of pillows, so i'm good to go.

one of these things is not like the other one...

Running, Icing, Eating

Happy 2 Days after National Running day bloggers!  Did you celebrate?

It's taper week for me, so I got out Wednesday and ran a speedy 4, which was really a poor choice, haha. My speed caused me to stop and walk between miles 2 and 3, which was fine overall I guess, but I'd like to get through 13.1 miles without walking on Sunday, so I'm going to have to make sure to start out easy, and go for those elusive negative splits. Maybe I'll need to start out the playlist with a few slower songs, and then finish up with the Thriller/Heads Will Roll mash-up from glee (this song always makes me run SO fast, I love when it comes up at the end of runs).

Regardless, I did get out there and run to celebrate. It was my first run through the arboretum since we were hit with monsoons this past week. This was more bad decision-making thanks to all that standing water acting as a breeding ground for bugs.

I had gotten my very first mosquito bite on my chest on Monday night. Well it was matched with another one yesterday morning:

Plus two more on my arm:

I have no self-control when it comes to scratching bug bites, so old-school Caladryl lotion is my BFF. I don't even care about the huge pink spots.

--

Yesterdays run was a little bit different. by the end of it I had foot pain in both feet in different spots. My left foot has pain on the ball of the foot. I am praying it is not a stress fracture. My right foot has arch pain.

Despite icing, these pains are still nagging.

Not good.

I'm pretty worried about the half, but I'm icing diligently, and we'll see how it goes.

--

Two things that have entered my summer running lifestyle that i'm SUPER happy about are as follows:

Banana Soft Serve

I've known about this for a while now, but for some reason failed to get around to making it. I always have bananas in the freezer thanks to a tendency to overbuy and a love for frozen bananas in smoothies. So in the sweltering heat of Tuesday, I decided it was time for banana soft serve.

This is seriously incredible. Its just bananas in the food processor until they turn into this awesome soft serve like consistency. Its so satisfying. And it's totally not that bad for me.

Love it.

I love it even more with Ahh-laska chocolate syrup.

All swirled together.

MAKE THIS NOW. 

--

Second thing is inspired by Born to Run, which if you are looking for running inspiration is seriously PERFECT.

This is chia fresca:

Yes, it looks like pond water. 

It's a combo of the oh so popular chia seeds, agave, and fresh squeezed lime juice.

I've been drinking it before my runs and while the texture is a little funky (the chia seeds kind of gel) I'm still drinking it and not hating it, haha.

--

Alright, time to go ice the foot some more. I'll keep you updated ;)

me! rocking the cancer kickers shirt ;)

Oh and one last thing. The only donation to my fundraising page has been ME. so if you feel like being generous every little bit helps and would be appreciated! :)

DxA2 Run To Do List

So how about a pre-half marathon to do list?

I love lists, and I don't think I've shared them enough with the blogging community.

So here we go:

1. super hydrate.
i'm talking 3L every day.

2. make half playlist
this has been a work in progress for the entirety of my (short) running career, but it need to get completed before sunday. its crazy how much good music affects runs. I swear my fastest 5 miler ever was due to the exclusively glee music.


3. carb load
started on saturday with the 3/4 loaf of multigrain bread, and will continue all week long. i'm thinking pasta for dinner tonight.


4. obtain shotbloks + bodyglide
done and done! one stop sale shop REI had these both for great deals yesterday. I was so pumped.

5. cherry juice all the time
pubmed can verify the benefits of cherry juice so i'm chugging this stuff all week too.


6. paint nails
this is going to be my thing. nails corresponding to race colors. so they'll be a lovely shade of green for this weekend. get excited.


7. further relationship with foam roller
def. contributed to the lack of soreness the past few days, so i'm going to put the moves on the foam roller and keep it intimate ;)


Anything else huge I'm forgetting?